Airship



A ril 28, 193 TH, CLAN 2,038,671

AIRSHIP Filed D90. 6, 1950 I N VEN TOR.

Patented Apr. 28, 1936' T D STATES AIRSHIP Johan W. Th. Olan. Marstrand, Sweden; Mary Ellen Olan, widow of said Johan W. Th. Olin,

deceased Application December 6, 1930, Serial No. 500,539 6 Claims. (01. 244 3 My invention relates to such improvements of an airship which will not only contribute to a relative solidity of structure of the ship but also to/a more effective propulsion and in general to a safer navigation not onlyduring the journey but also on starting and landing .with theship.

I attain these objects .by the several features of novelty-illustrated in the accompanying drawing and hereinafter specified and claimed.

Fig. l is a perspective view of the ship.

Fig. 2 isa skeleton view of the airship, show-, ing the novelty of the longitudinal central channel serving not only as the chief part of the skeleton of the airship but also as an integral part in the system of locomotion or propulsion I use for the ship.

Fig. 3 is a water anchoreventually ballastcarrier of the ship.

Figs. 4, 5', 6, 7, 8 and 9 are detail views of integral parts of the structure of the ship.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views. 1

, The'central channel a is composed of sectional tubes 1) rigidly secured to each other so as to constitute a solid and strong central part of the skeleton of the ship. Said tubes I preferably make of hard aluminium, wood, very thin steel or other suitable material which will with lightness-combine necessary strength. When wood is used in the tubesb I preferably make them of spirally and crosswise wound veneer layers solidly glued or'otherwise fastened together whereupon I give to the tube a finishing coating or surrounding of steel (steel'wire or thin sheetsteel) suitably wound or aflixed around the tubes. At the ends of the tubes I solidly affix the metal rings; c of necessary strength to allow a solid and rigid mechanical combination of the tubes the one with the other. Said end-rings c I also afiix at the ends of the tubes when they are made of hard-aluminium or steel'and' when the whole cannot conveniently be made one single piece. To the ends of the channel proper I solidly affix the machinery compartments containing not only the mostly widened or funnel shaped entrancesltothechannel but also the machinery for propelling'the ship, the tanks for fuel and finallylspace necessary for the attendants and navigators.

At each end of the channel system I convenie'ntly mount a propeller'which is brought into operation by any suitable motor in a corresponding way asisbeing done infront of modern flying-machines.

When underthe rotation of the propeller in front the air is, being sucked or pressed into the channel a there will arise all the timea tendency for attenuation of the. air in front of the vessel and whenzthe propeller behind receives the Compressed air from the channel and presses it further away behind the vessel, there arises a tendency for increased pressure from behind. In such a way adverse wind or the air-pressure. when full speed is used will not; have the same 10 tendency: to lessen the progress of the airship as in reference toairships heretofore 'in use. Furthermore, since the propellers are exercising their effect directly in the line of motion their total eifect per unit of expended energy will be larger than on airships where the propellers are being worked from the gondolas'underneath the ship.

;In 'order furthermore to increase the effect of the propulsion I in some cases use a frontpropeller in which the blades have an oblique position with reference to the axle as shown in Fig. 4

which will cause a' kind of suction of air along the sides of the airship (comparable with-the eddies in a river) and in the direction of the forward movement of the ship whichevidently will further and advance said movement.

When the airship is to land and when this is to take place where assistance from the ground can not 'be had, the landing is preferably made over water; for instance at the lee shore of a lake or a river or the lee shore of'an island (in the ocean). The airship thereby lets go its water anchors(Fig. 3) in the first hand; Said anchors consist of bags or balloons of light strong and practically water tight "material such as skin; rubber,'canvas, or other textiles. .They are in the bottom'provided with weights. f preferably of metalwith valves 9 to be operated from the airship atwill'by means of a string h so as to 40 make possible the let go of the water when the shipiis again to start, orelse to'retain part thereof as an adjustable ballastunder the'journey. At the upper end some little distance from the opening 'of the bag the anchor is' provided with a float It so as not to allow the weight underneath to drag down the anchor further than to the point where the float prevents-further submersion and. by changing the distance of the float from the bag, the level of submersion may thus be regulated at will. When the anchors are at first castithey submerge under the water up. to the float; and by the pull of the anchor-line I from above they are gradually filled with water in a corresponding way as aballoo'n shaped para 5 5.-

chute is gradually filled with air by the pull from below. When a sufficient number of anchor bags have thus been filled with water and the airship in thisway through'the intermedium of respective anchor-lineshasbecome elastically fastened to the placein question the ship may then by the intermedium of the respective small capstans m be brought down to a convenient height from the water to allow a debarkation of passengers in the landing boats n said being made of canvas or other light suitable material.

As head gondola of the ship I use a boat the form of which preferably is that of an extended ellipsoid. It is made of very light material, such as an aluminium alloy as skeleton said being filled in with light wood (cross veneer) or canvas or both in conjunctio-n or'with other suitable material for instance prepared'sealskin so as to become absolutely watertight} Hereby is of course exception made for'windows and entrance openings'fromabove which all however may be tightly closed in case of necessity for instance when the gondolain question for one V terials.

reason or another shall be used as seagoing or as lifeboat. For such an occasion the gondola boat is also provided with a'little help' motor with air propeller and means for steering the boat. From the head gondola which is rigidly but 'detachably fastened underneath the airship trol in both ends of the head gondola.

I unite the different tubesiof the central channel system by boltingtheir respective flanges together whereafter radial aflixtures or sockets i also are bolted over said united flanges so as to furthermore combine the tubes to a solid mechanical unit. In said sockets I thereafter rigidly secure spokes'u such as light and strong tubes of hard aluminium or steel stems of bamboo or other suitable material. Said spokes are thereupon strongly 'interstayed between themselves sideways and also with those of the adjoining sections fore and aft so as to finally constitutein its entirety a strongand light framework or skeleton for the entireship. Between aforesaid radial sections of the skeleton (Fig. 5) and around the central channel of the ship I finally introduce' the multiple of balloon compartments which firmly tied together and surrounded with netting (Fig. 6) in the usual way are to lift the ship for reasons and in the way well known to the art.

7 At each end'of the airship'I solidly secure to the skeleton of the shipandsurrounding in part the end gas compartments d thereof the great shields wof light but strong materialsuch as hard-aluminium or thin sheetsteeL- Said shields are of special importance when hydrogen gas is used to lift the ship since the front'shield then preventsthe air from penetrating into the front gas compartment .while part of the hydrogen is being expelled; 'In' such a way the shield in question greatly adds to a safe navigationwhile other-' wise danger exists both that the lifting capacity 7 of the front gas compartment through the heavier air entering said compartment becomes reduced,

as well as finally, that the gas mixture contained inthe compartment by degrees becomes explosive. It is-evident that the shieldialso at the other end is equally important since by simply reversing the rotation of the propellers'front and stern of the vessel may be said to interchange. This feature of construction which enables one at will to interchange front and stem by one single maneuver is of special importance when from one' reason or another one end of the ship has become heavier and dipping, since one then always mayuse the upper end as front which enables one with relative facility to remove the ship from dangerous proximity to the ground or the Water underneath. It is from what just here shields just described, hydrogen to inflate the frontand the hind gas compartments should not be used in this case I therefore preferably use helium in place'of hydrogen in the two endcompartments, if helium cant be procured for all the compartments.

'At each end1of the ship I firmly adjust a tubular ring a; into which the combustion gas from above has been said evident that when in the 7 construction of my ship I dispense with the.

the motors are infirst handintroduced. From.

this ring the gases can thereafter be made to pass to the outside at will either all around the balloon-machine compartment or be made to enter the central channel through a special tube 3/. The gases from the front motor will then on their way'to the outside passthe centralchannel,

from end to end; and in this way the'channel when made of metal williserve as a heating apparatus for the airship to fbe easily regulated at V will. This is of importance in cold and icy re:

gions where snow and hoarfrost-have a tendency to load down the ship. 7

Having now described my invention what, I

claim is: V V

1. In an airship 'a skeleton consisting chiefiy of a'central longitudinal integral tubular channel system, a machine-compartment rigidly at.- tached to each end of said channel system said machine-compartments having each one a fitting tubular inlet to the channel system proper, a

head-gondola detachably attached to aforesaid skeleton,

cable-communication between said head-gondola and said machine-compartments I,

fortransport of people and material and aplurality of buoyant gas compartments around aforesaid channel system to lift the shipin the air, substantially as described.

' 2..In an airship a skeleton consisting chiefly of a central longitudinal integral tubular channel system, said channel system being an'integral part of the system of propulsion or locomotion r forthe ship, a machine-compartment rigidly attached-to each end of said channel system, said" machine-compartments having each one a fit-' ting tubular inlet to the channel system proper,

a head-gondola detachably attached to aforesaid skeleton, cable-communication between said head-gondola and said machine-compartments for transport ofpeople and material and a plurality of buoyant gas-compartments around aforesaid channel system to lift the ship. in theair,

substantially as shown and described. i 3. In an airship a longitudinal central channel open at both ends and having rigidly attached at each' end va machine-compartment provided with a tubular fitting inlet to the openings of the channel proper, said channel being other wise a rigid and integral mechanical unit and provided sectionally with radial afiixtures mutual- 1y interstayed so as to form stable sectional struc: tures, said sectional structures being also mutually interstayed so as to form withthe central 15;

channel a rigid skeleton for the ship, a gondola adapted to be oceangoing, detachably secured to said skeleton and cable-communication between said gondola and the end-machine-compartments aforesaid for transpart of people and material substantially as described.

4. In an airship a plurality of buoyant gas compartments around a central-channel open in both ends but otherwise forming a rigid and integral mechanical unit, a machine compartment rigidly attached at each end of said channel, said machine compartments each one provided with a tubular fitting inlet to the channel proper and the gas compartments at each end next to the machine-compartments provided with gas tight shields for the purpose of always protecting the front gas compartment from air pressure, whichever end of the ship for the time being serves as front or stern substantially as described.

5. In an airship a skeleton consisting chiefly of a central longitudinal integral tubular channel system, said channel being an integral part ship, a machine compartment rigidly attached to each end of said channel system, said machine compartments having each one a fitting tubular inlet to the channel system proper, a head gondola detachably attached to aforesaid skeleton, cable communication between said head gondola and said machine compartments for the transport of people and material, a plurality of buoyant gas compartments around aforesaid channel system to cause the ship to rise in the air all in combination with means enabling the crew safely to land and rise with the ship without outside assistance, substantially as described.

6. A device as claimed in claim 3 all in combination with buoyant gas compartments securely provided between aforesaid sectional structures around the central channel and inside the stays between the sectional structures, so as to give necessary buoyancy to the airship, substantially as described.

JOHAN W. TH. oLAN. 

